Spending time in the great outdoors is among the most popular fair weather leisure time activities. Quite often, cooking and eating a meal is made part of the outdoor activity. Whether it is a family gathering, a picnic or a cookout, a great deal of time is spent around a barbeque grill. A usual part of the barbequing process is that of applying barbeque sauce, glazes, sauces or other condiments. This usually means pouring the sauce in the original bottle into a bowl, where a brush or other applicator can be used to apply it to the meat. This results in additional dirty dishes, wasted time and perhaps even wasted condiments.
Several attempts have been made in the past to design an effective means for dispensing condiments evenly from a bottle onto a food product. U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,810 in the name of Flores discloses a replacement top for a condiment bottle. The replacement top includes a cap member adapted to be received on an opening of a bottle. The cap member includes a fluid passage therethrough. A valve member is supported by the cap member for operatively opening and closing the fluid passage in the cap member. A brush portion is attached to the cap member in proximity to the fluid passage. Unfortunately, this prior art example does not provide various caps to fulfill the needs of basting different food products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,386 in the name of Schultz discloses a liquid nail polish applicator having a bottle containing a supply of nail polish and a brush applicator on the open end of the bottle. The brush is supplied with nail polish liquid internally through the brush bottle upon the removal of the center seal from the open end of the bottle and upon inverting the bottle. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed for effectively basting a food product with any desired condiment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,651 in the name of Bertothy describes a device that is useful for basting food products in the cooking process. More specifically, the device is useful by providing variable fluid flow capabilities to food product basting appliances. The food basting device comprises two separate pieces, a cap piece and a brush piece that work in rotating relationship with each other to prove variable fluid flow through the device. The food basting device preferably works with fluid containers that do not have screw threads for a cap or lid, such as a beer or soda can. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed to conveniently attach to a preexisting condiment bottle.
None of the prior art particularly describes detachable condiment applicators for the packaging and the application of foodstuffs such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, glazes. Accordingly, there is a need for a means by which condiments can be applied directly to meats without the disadvantages described above.